The list below is a record of advice the Planning Inspectorate has provided in respect of the Planning Act 2008 process.
There is a statutory duty under section 51 of the Planning Act 2008 to record the advice that is given in relation to an application or a potential application and to make this publicly available. Advice we have provided is recorded below together with the name of the person or organisation who asked for the advice and the project it relates to. The privacy of any other personal information will be protected in accordance with our Information Charter which you should view before sending information to the Planning Inspectorate.
Note that after a project page has been created for a particular application, any advice provided that relates to it will also be published under the ‘s51 advice’ tab on the relevant project page.
Advice given between between 1 October 2009 and 14 April 2015 has been archived. View the archived advice.
Enquiry
I understand that when EDFE submit their DCO for Sizewell C to the Planning Inspectorate for deliberation, the documents that the case will be considered against will be EN1 and EN6.
Are there any other Planning documents that will be pertinent to the Application?
As the Sizewell C site is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB I understand that IROPI may be used to by pass the AONB designation. Would you please tell me if this is the case.
Advice given
I can confirm that, on the information currently before us, the relevant National Policy Statements are EN-1 (Energy) and EN-6 (Nuclear Power Generation). It would not be appropriate for us to advise what the relevant planning policy will be before the application has been submitted. This will be set out by the Applicant in their Planning Statement and, if the application is accepted for examination, the local authority(ies) will be invited to set out their local planning policy considerations as they relate to the proposed development in their Local Impact Report.
With regard to IROPI, this acronym is used with reference to impacts on European sites designated for nature conservation (for example Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites) that are protected under the Habitats Directive (The Habitats Regulations in the UK), not AONB. We are aware that there are a number of European nature conservation sites within the vicinity of the existing power station (and therefore, in the absence of a proposed boundary, within the likely vicinity of any proposals). For further information on this you may wish to see our Advice Note 10: Habitats Regulations Assessment relevant to nationally significant infrastructure projects: attachment 1
Alternatively, perhaps your reference to IROPI is in relation to EN1, which in paragraph 5.9.10 makes reference to demonstrating ‘public interest’ when considering development in an AONB. It will be for the applicant to present their case with regard to the ‘public interest’ (in whatever context) in their application.
